An amount of GH¢249,776.97 was recovered for customers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) within the first-half of the year by the Greater Accra Regional (GAR) Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC).
This action follows 913 complaints received from consumers against the utility companies in the first-six months of the year.
The complaints, however, fell short of the 1,011 received in the same period last year.
The Greater Accra Regional Manager of the PURC, Mrs Gifty Bruce-Nelson disclosed this in an interview with the media in Accra last Thursday.
According to her, 896 of the cases, representing 98 per cent of the complaints, have been resolved.
She said the complaints against the GWCL and ECG bothered mainly on damages to property, unlawful disconnection and payments, quality of service and consumer service billing.
“In a similar vein, the Commission also received 100 complaints from utility companies against consumers within the same period for non-payment of bills and assault on their officers,” she added.
The GAR Manager said the PURC (Consumer Service) Regulation LI 2413, allowed utility companies to lodge complaints to the commission.
She said if consumers made complaints through walk-ins, phone calls or field and written, the regional office investigates such complaints and seeks ways to resolve them.
Mrs Bruce-Nelson said to reduce complaints, the regional commission embarked on sensitisation programme in the communities and schools to educate both consumers and the companies on how to prevent such issues.
“We also monitor industries to establish and ascertain the general electricity and water supply situation to commercial customers,” she added.
Mrs Bruce-Nelson cautioned the public to desist from illegal connection, tampering with transformers and stealing.
She urged the public to pay bills promptly, conserve energy and report to the commission when they have complaints.
